That story down in Durham, N.C., involving the Duke University lacrosse team and the rape accusations surrounding it is about as sordid as it gets when it comes to "student/athletes" at "institutions of higher education."

This thing is disgusting on so many levels that the school's authorities had no choice but to announce that the second-ranked Blue Devils' season has been suspended indefinitely . . . or until some serious headway is made in the case.

What irks me, of course, is the arrogance of the "student/athletes" who have closed ranks and have refused to talk to anybody -- representatives of the law, university officials, investigators . . . anybody -- about what took place at their March 13th team party during which a so-called "exotic dancer" was allegedly sexually attacked by multiple Blue Devils.

I suppose the cretins involved have deemed this to be a kind of team bonding, a show of loyalty, a demonstration of kinship. What it is, far more accurately, is a spineless disgrace.

I understand -- at least I think I do -- that it is the players' legal right not to talk. But it is the greater community's moral right to properly scorn those "student/athletes" for, in essence, supporting the supposed acts of alleged rapists. And it is the system's ethical right -- no, its obligation -- to probe those "student/athletes" to the fullest extent of the law, to get to the truth and to appropriately punish those who may be guilty.

Too often in cases such as these, folks rally around the wrong people. Too often, and we've seen it here close to home, "student/athletes" -- rather than the victims of their attacks -- are given the public's (and the coaches') benefit of the doubt simply because those "student/athletes" are so physically gifted and provide so much on-court/on-field entertainment.

That, obviously, is an ongoing, inarguable shame.

Again, let's be clear regarding the facts as they've been reported: A woman has accused three members of the Duke men's lacrosse team of beating, choking and raping her. And every one of the Blue Devils -- 47 in all -- has chosen to clam up rather than to do the right thing and honestly discuss what did or did not happen on the night in question.

Brotherhood? This isn't brotherhood. It's orchestrated gutlessness. It's sitting by the window sill, en masse, and watching as a woman gets mugged down on the street.

If Duke does not ultimately hose each of these cowards into the street, a pox on its lacrosse house. And a pox, too, on its administration.